Baby Wizard Sagas
by Daughter of Lestrange
Summary: A collection of tales about your favorite characters as little ones
1. Baby Harry Part 1

Baby Harry

Part 1

James and Lily Potter picked their way down Diagon Alley, happy to be out of the house. They both felt as if they hadn't been out in years. Lately one thing had seemed to come right after another. James had been ill and had given it to Harry. Almost immediately after they were better, Lily's mother Violet had taken a turn for the worse. She had been residing in a Muggle home for the aged. The Potters spent several days with her in the hospital before they got wind that Petunia and her great lump of a husband planned on visiting. James and Harry left as Lily said her final good-byes to her mother. Several hours later, the only phone in their house rang – a nurse to inform Lily that her mother had passed away.

She had been able to pull herself together and make herself smile until Harry was in bed. Then she curled up on the master bed and began weeping as she never had before. James let her be for as long as he could stand it, then went to comfort her. His own parents had passed on just a few years before. Now neither of them had any family at all. James sat next to her huddled form and rubbed her back. He couldn't think of anything to say, but the fact that her sobbing began to ease gave him the relief that at least his presence was helping.

Finally, she sat up and threw her arms around her husband. James held her tightly and kissed her forehead. He led her to a large, plush armchair and put her on his lap. He ran his hands gently through her hair and rocked her. They sat like this for several hours until she finally stopped crying and took in a long shaky breath.

"You know," James said finally. "She was alright all the time we were there. Then that great toad Dursley comes, and I expect she died of boredom."

"OH James!" Lily scolded angrily, hitting his chest. Then, quite unexpectedly, she burst into laughter. "That's very nearly what she told me she would do, too!"

It was hard for her to hide her depression, so Harry had been picking up on it. He cried at first, then became very irritable. He banged his spoon on his highchair tray, shouting "NO" all through dinner. He took a defiant pee on his changing table, which he'd not done for months. He attempted to bite the cat and threw all of his toys out of crib. His tantrums escalated for two days until, one morning, when James came down to breakfast, he was promptly hit. in the face with a bowl of oatmeal.

"That does it!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Please don't be cross with him," Lily pleaded. "He's only a baby, he can't control it. His magic just explodes."

"I'm not angry at him, really... but we've been cooped up for too long! With everything that's happened, we haven't been out for weeks, and it's even starting to wear on the baby. We just need to get out of this house!"

"James," Lily laughed. "James, clean your glasses off, love. You've no idea how hard it is to have a conversation with someone who can't see. You've been talking to the cupboard."

His glasses had become caked with the oatmeal that Harry had thrown, but he could have sworn he'd seen Lily standing in front of him. Embarrassed, he removed them, leaving to big round spots around his eyes while the rest of his face was still covered in glop.

Lily bit her lip, trying not to laugh even harder. Harry, however, had no problem giggling at his father. He squealed and clapped his hands.

"Think that's funny, do you?" James said, trying to pretend he was mad. "Look what you've done to poor old daddy!" He lifted Harry out of his highchair. "Look at this mess. Eh? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Harry made another happy sound then began to suck on James' cheek, cleaning the oatmeal off.

"Aw!" Lily crooned. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss James on the other cheek. "Harry has the right idea, you're delicious!"

After he had gotten cleaned up, Lily ad agreed that they all needed an outing. They gathered up all they would need for the day and apparated over to Diagon Alley. James stopped at Gringotts to take out some gold for the day. They decided to start at that end and make their way down the shops.

Their first stop was the junk shop, which Lily always had fun browsing. Despite its name, some stuff was quite new and other things were quite antique. They said hello to Mr. Ollivlander and bought a toy, teething wand for Harry. James couldn't resist Gambol and Japes. He always came out with a large bag of which Lily dreaded to look in. This particular day, he came out with two samples, one that he stealthily fed to Harry while Lily's attention was elsewhere. By the time she noticed what he'd done, both he and Harry had bright blue hair. Lily just pinched the bridge of her nose as though she had a headache and muttered 'oh good Godric, why me?'

They stopped in the magical menagerie, where Harry took great interested in the Puffskeins. Lily showed him the cats and Harry ran his fingers through a large ginger tom called Crookshanks, who purred noisily. There were several dogs whose kisses made Harry squeal happily, but James reminded Lily that they already had a dog called Padfoot. There were so many creatures to show him – things in tanks, things in nests, and many in cages of all sizes. Lily set Harry down to reach a new collar for their cat. It only took her a few seconds, but when she looked down, Harry was gone. He had scooted off to the Puffskein nests again. Harry seized one by the fluff. It must have been heavier then he expected, because he promptly fell over onto his backside, the puff still in his tiny fist. He looked down at it, a wide, drooley grin on his face. The Puffskein obviously wasn't bothered. It stuck out its long pink tongue, found Harry's nose and began to investigate inside of it. Harry screamed and laughed, kicking both of his feet. He hugged it tight, making the Puffskein hum contentedly.

"What have you got there, diaper butt?" James asked, kneeling on the floor. "Have you found a new mate?"

Harry smiled brightly up at his dad and giggled. James picked him up and gave him a big kiss.

"I suppose he has to come home with us, eh?" He felt a particularly wet spot on the Puffskein. "I don't think they'll take it back, anyway. I don't think they accept things little boys have been sucking on!"

They paid for the Puffskein, as well as a nest and a cage for it and left the shop. They went inside Enchanted Enfants which was a dual store with Charmed Children. They came out with so many new bags that James had to apparate home and back for their little trolley just so they could continue. After stuffing everything in the basket, they moved over to a bench to sit down. Lily fished through one of the bags and took out a packaged wrap sporting a blue print with white polka dots. She took the paper out of it and carefully began to wrap it around herself. She kept muttering things like "no, _that_ way", and "hm, not like that" and "oops, wait, no, the other way". Finally she sighed frustratedly and decided to start over. This time she went more slowly and decided she had it ready in a few minutes.

"Ta-da!" She said, twirling for James.

"Er-sexy?" James tried, confused.

Lily laughed. "Not really, no. Here, let me have Harry, then it should be obvious."

She picked Harry up and carefully poked Harry's legs through two gaps in the wrap by her hips. She sat Harry down, on her stomach and pulled his arms through two holes by her chest. Holding her breath, she let go. It was a success. The wrap did its job, holding Harry snug against her.

"Yes!" Lily cheered. "I'm a hands-free mummy!"

"Clever girl," James said. "I don't think I understand though. You moaned all through the last months of your pregnancy because he was so heavy. You just couldn't wait until he was born. Now you've strapped him back on!"

Lily glared at him. "You've totally spoiled this now, you know?"

The two of them laughed and continued down the street. They made a quick stop into Madame Malkin's robes, then Lily spent half an hour in Flourish and Blotts. Lily loved looking at the new potions books. Harry liked to taste them. Several times, he tossed down books faster then she could magic them back onto the shelves. She ended up tucking his hands into the wrap, to his great disappointment. James spent the same amount of time in the Quidditch supply store, showing Harry all sorts of new equipment. He gently tossed a small plastic Quaffle to Harry, whose head it bounced off of. Harry gurgled indignantly then blew a raspberry at him. When James gave it to him and asked Harry to toss it back, he threw it right into an end cap of beater clubs, toppling all of them over. Lily tried to pretend she didn't know either of them. He ended up buying a golden snitch that Harry would be able to catch, as it merely hovered lazily for beginners. Lily made her way into the Apothecary for new potions supplies, blushing furiously as she came out.

She linked her arms into James' and pulled him along. "Come on then love, I'm getting a bit hungry. The lunch rush should be out of the Florean's soon. If we still want to look at the owls, we'd better get a move on. Besides, I think it looks like rain, don't you?"

James was instantly suspicious. She was talking unusually fast and tugging him as if she were eager to get out of the area. He also noticed she had pulled her long robes on. He went along with it, but he couldn't help peeking behind them. He felt a small surge of anger. Severus Snape, his old school rival, was watching them out of the Apothecary window.

"Oy! Did that git..."

"Oh, I _knew _you'd look," she moaned. "It's nothing James. Nothing. He didn't... I mean, I didn't... well, how was I supposed to know he'd got chemicals, I couldn't see his hands!"

"What happened?" he demanded.

Lily sighed. "I was just leaving the shop when he said hello to me, so I said hello back. He asked me where my insignificant other was, and I was about to tell him off. I expect a scarab beetle found it's way out of the jars because there was one crawling Harry. He shrieked and I suppose Snape didn't see Harry because it startled him. I don't know what he was mixing, but he dropped it, it sort of splashed everywhere and..." She pulled aside her robe slightly allowing him to look inside of it. A large piece of fabric had burned right through her trousers and pants, exposing her butt. "I don't know what happened after that, I got out of there as quick as I could!"

If James had been laughing before, it was nothing compared to his hysterics when he turned around again. Snape standing in the doorway with large plumes of white smoke pouring from his knees. He snuck his hand under Lily's robe to pinch her bare cheek, then put his arm around her, his other hand wiping away tears form laughing so hard. Lily was scolding him ("It's _not _funny James! We could've been hurt!"), and checking Harry for any burns. James insisted that she look, and stopped with an exasperated sigh. She could see clearly what was going on behind her in a shop window, while pretending to browse the display.

Snape was still standing there, glaring at the couple, when his shoes suddenly burst into flame. He darted across the street and hopped into a small cauldron that had been collecting rain water. He climbed out after a few seconds, shaking the water off. He glared at them one last time, then picked his way across the street again, walking only on his heels, as the toes of his shoes had been totally melted away, exposing half of his foot.

James was roaring with laughter.

Lily gave him a small whack on the arm. "James! Stop that! It's... it's not... pffft..." was all she could manage before she gave in to her own giggles.

"Ah, Harry! I love you so much son," James finally sighed, giving Harry a big, congratulatory kiss on the head.

**((Part 2 is coming soon! Let me know who you'd like to see next :) ))**


	2. Baby Harry Part 2

BABY HARRY PART 2

After the incident with Snape, Lily slunk into the cauldron shop, trying very hard to keep out of view of Madame Malkin's windows. Severus had had to make his way there shuffling on his heels to buy new shoes. James followed Lily into the shop, wondering what she could possibly want. They already had several cauldrons of different sizes and metals. How many could she need?

Lily went to the back and began to poke through the tiniest cauldrons they made. Most were very cheap, thin pewter. James watched, not quite sure what she was looking for. They all seemed the same to him. She finally found one that met her approval and grinned.

"Is that for brewing things to put into a vial?" James asked.

"Good guess, but no. I think Harry is old enough to have his own now. He is nearly a year after all, and he's already walking! These can't take a very high heat, so he can't possibly hurt himself on it. That's what I went into the Apothecary for. I got loads of powders that he can play with. Some will foam, some fizz, some make sounds and all of them change color. Do you think he'll enjoy it?"

She was so happy and looked so hopeful that James could never disagree. "If he's got his mother's brain, he was born ready! He seems quite adept at poisons already. I bet old Snivelly's toenails turn pink and grow six inches tonight."

They laughed and Lily purchased the little cauldron. Their next stop was Eeylops Owl Emporium. Large and small metal cages were suspended all about the shop. Most of the owls were in their cages where they slept during the day. At night, all of the cages were opened so that the owls could flutter out onto the perches and flap around the store without bothering any customers. Purchasing an owl during the day was much easier as they were too sleepy to cause a scene. The witches and wizards could get it home without it screeching, flapping and nipping their fingers.

The Potter's large speckled screech owl rarely took an interest in Harry, as he never received any post. Harry usually couldn't be bothered with their owl anyway for the same reason – it never had anything for him. He hardly seemed to notice it at all.

"Harry, do you see him? Can you see this fluffy guy?" James put Harry onto his shoulder so that Harry could peer into the cage. "He looks just like Owlicious, doesn't he? Yeah? He looks exactly like our owl!"

James put his finger in the cage. The owl had woken by the sound of voices around it. It leaned forward to nibble at James' finger. James stroked the owl's chest fluff. It hooted importantly, stretching its legs. James got the impression that it was showing off how long and strong they were. It seemed as if it applying for a job by trying to say 'look how sleek these are, I could deliver a heavy package with no problems!'. James laughed.

"Ah, I'm sorry buddy. We're not buying an owl today, I'm afraid. I only wanted my son to see you. I don't doubt you're quite talented though!"

The owl spread its wings out, as if shrugging. It yawned. Then it gave a few very noisy screeching hoots, before fluffing itself up to its full size and nestling back down. Harry, who had never seen an owl do this before, was terrified. To him, the owl had suddenly turned into a massive beast of feathers and was shrieking at them in warning that it would attack. He burst into tears.

James held him in a tight hug. Harry hid his face in his father's neck and sobbed. James lovingly rubbed Harry's neck and spoke softly in his ear.

"Oh dear, did that scare you little mate? Yeah? I know it did. I know. Shhh. You're alright. Yes, mister owl is asleep now. You're ok. Dada is here, you're ok." James gave him a big kiss on his temple, then gave Harry a tight hug.

Lily had rushed over from admiring a barn owl. She ran her fingers through the tufts of messy hair on Harry's head. "My poor little pumpkin juice, what's wrong?"

"He was frightened by that owl, but I think we're ok. Hmm? Harry ok?" James kissed Harry's little cheek.

Harry whimpered and sniffled. He eyed the owl nervously.

"It's alright son," Lily smiled. "He won't hurt you! No, these owls won't hurt you. They don't eat little boys. Come on, let's go see some owls who aren't so big."

She led them over to some very small terrariums where several small owls shared a home. She put her hand in the tank and one of them hopped onto her finger. She lifted it out carefully. James had knelt down and put Harry on his knee.

"Look at this little guy, Harry!" Lily said, showing her son the tiny burrowing owl. "Isn't he sweet? He's just your size!"

Harry was suspicious, but he was also incredibly curious. The tiny owl peeped happily and puffed himself up. He looked remarkably like a Puffskein, only with much larger eyes. Harry smiled. He reached his finger out to poke the owl who deflated with a long, high 'wooooo'. Harry giggled, then made a grab for it. Luckily, Lily was faster. She moved the owl out of his reach.

"No-no, love," she said. "We don't grab owls. That hurts them! We have to have gentle hands, see?" Lily took Harry's hand and ran it down the little owl, then lightly petted its head. "There we are! See? He likes that!" She helped Harry to feel it again. "That's nice, isn't it? Can you show muma gentle hands? Can you touch the owl?"

Harry thought about it, then reached out and patted the owl's head. It was still rather hard, but the owl seemed to understand that Harry was just learning. It cheeped gladly, bobbing its head in a congratulatory way. Harry stuck his fingers in his mouth and gurgled, clearly very pleased with his accomplishment.

"That's the way!" James grinned. "Who's our smart boy, eh?" He tickled Harry's stomach.

Lily put the owl back with its family. They browsed a bit more before thanking the shop owner and going back outside. Lily was just putting Harry back into the wrap when there was a large crack of thunder overhead. In the next second, it began pouring rain. Lily pointed to the ice cream parlor and they made a dash for it.

James held the door open as she and Harry scooted inside. He wheeled their trolley in and let the door close behind him. They shook the water off as best they could and wiped their feet. Lily squeezed her hair dry over the rug as James wiped his glasses off.

"Hello there ducks!" An elderly woman called to them from over the counter. "Won't be a tick! You have a look 'round and I'll be back in a second to take your order."

"Thank you," Lily smiled. "Oooh, look Harry! Ice cream! Yummy yummy! Let's see what they've got."

There was a long, wood and glass counter that spanned the back of the shop. There were dozens of flavors, some by Muggles and some unique to the wizarding world. When the cheerful old witch came back, James ordered a cone of pumpkin pasty and treacle tart. Lily got a cup of chocolate frog for she and Harry to share. She took a spoon and turned around, slamming right into someone.

"Oy, are you blind? You there, can't you look after your wife?"

Lily looked up to see who had spoken to rudely to them. Her face split into a wide grin and she laughed. "Sirius Black, you scared me!" She shoved him playfully. "That was rotten, I nearly put the ice cream right in Harry's face!"

"Would've been the best day of his little life, too," he laughed. "Hello there, Harry! Hey mate! You've gotten so big since I last saw you. And how are you Prongs?"

"Tired, but we'll live." He and Sirius hugged. "We really needed a day out. Harry was getting grouchy. He threw oatmeal at me this morning."

"Yeah, well, I've seen how you look first thing in morning. He probably thought you were a troll."

They laughed and Sirius led them to a table where he had been sitting. Sirius had heard about Lily's mother passing, and he gave her his sympathies. She smiled sadly and thanked him. After an awkward silence, James told Sirius about their afternoon encounter with Snape. The two of them laughed like a pair of mad poltergeists. Harry, elated by the happiness around him, clapped his hands and laughed with them.

The three of them swapped stories about the latest happenings in the wizarding world. Sirius always had interesting things to share, as his family supported the Dark Lord. Though he wasn't part of them anymore, he still had a few relatives who were on the fence about their feelings of purity, and they were willing to speak with him. James was always getting news from the Aurors, as his father had served the Ministry for his entire life, and now with the Prophecy, they seemed to feel a duty to let the Potters know what was going on. Lily was concentrating on feeding Harry without getting him covered in chocolate, but she added the rumors she'd heard from other witches, and what was going on in the muggle world.

Right in the middle of a sentence, Lily felt something grab her leg. Startled, she looked down to see a small, thin, freckled face grinning up at her. It was another little boy, slightly older then Harry, and clearly much better at walking. He had been attracted to some of the shiny sequins at the bottom of her robe and was clutching them as if hoping that they would come with him.

"Well hello there," Lily smiled. "James, we've got a visitor!"

James and Sirius both looked under the table and laughed. Lily waved at the little boy, who put a hand up and flexed his fingers at her.

"And where did you come from, little man?" She asked. She held out her hand and helped the boy off the floor. He stood net to her, holding on to her chair. "Where is your mummy? Did you escape?"

Lily ran her fingers through the boy's bright red hair, then put a hand on his back so he wouldn't fall over. The boy suddenly saw Harry sitting in her lap and looked curiously at him. He reached a hand out to poke Harry in the side, checking to see if he was real. Lily grinned.

"Did you come to make friends? Look, Harry! See, there's another little boy. What do you think?"

Harry put a finger in his mouth. He really hadn't been around too many other children before. He didn't seem to know what to make of the boy. He finally took his slobbery finger and pointed at him. The boy grabbed Harry's finger and shook it vigorously. Lily was afraid that Harry was about about to cry, from the shocked look on his face, but to her surprise, he made a bubbling sound and gave a small laugh.

"Oh, are we all friends, then?" She beamed. She leaned over and put her arm around the red-haired boy and lifted him onto her lap. "There we are, now we can see each other properly, hm? How is that?"

The ginger boy immediately started to pat Harry. Then he grabbed at Harry's hair. In return, Harry gave him a poke in the eye, his finger still soaked from being in his mouth. Neither of them seemed too bothered by the others rough behaviour. In fact, they seemed to be carrying on their own squeaky, gurgling, drool filled conversation.

Lily was bubbling over with joy. "He's found a friend, James! His first friend! Look at them, they're just dolls!"

James and Sirius both moved closer, watching the two boys with great interest. Lily glanced up to see a short, portly woman wheel a pram over to their right, a few tables ahead of them.

"Right, here we are, Won-won! I'm sorry it took mummy so long," She began to set two ice cream cups down, then looked about. Whoever she had expected to see was no longer there. "Won-won? Ronnie?" She called sweetly at first. Then more frantically, she began looking under tables. "Ron! RON! Ronald Weasley! Where are you, Ron?!"

Lily recognized her immediately when she got a good look at the woman's face. She should have known it was Molly Weasley straight away, she thought stupidly. The Weasleys had joined The Order of The Phoenix not long ago and they'd been spending a lot of time together. Of course, this had to be her son Ronald that she frequently mentioned. Lily thought she should have guessed this too. The hair was a dead give away.

"Molly! Molly, over here!" Lily called.

Molly look up, red in the face with an expression of irritation and fear. Clearly she didn't want to be distracted in case Ron tried to make a run for it. Then she spotted her son sitting on Lily's lap and she smiled., relieved She made her way over to them and sighed in an exasperated way.

"Hello, Lily," she said. "I do apologize, I really hope he hasn't bothered you too much."

"No, not at all! He's been a perfect gentleman. He just came over to make friends."

"Good. Oh, they can be such a handful! I can't take my eyes off of this one for a minute."

"It's fine. Where is everyone else?"

"With Arthur and his sister. It's just mummy and Ronnie's day out." She sighed deeply. "You would think that I could at least turn around for a few seconds. I really am sorry."

"Don't be," James said. "Really, Molly, it's alright! It happens to us too, and we've only got one. Anyway, I expect he thought Lily was his mum. There aren't too many woman with red hair about."

Lily grinned, yet she couldn't help but feel sorry for Molly. Apparently, she was all too used to apologizing for her children. The Potters had heard, of course, about the large Weasley family. Some wizards thought they had far too many children. The snobbier pure-bloods had even tossed the word "disgusting" around. Lily couldn't understand that. Arthur and Molly had loved each other deeply since they'd gone to Hogwarts, and the way they looked at each child with such love; they were a strong family and Lily had always admired them. Molly shouldn't have always had to apologize if one of her sons was friendly to the wrong person, Lily thought. They were a wonderful family with nothing to be ashamed of.

"Would you like to sit with us?" Lily offered. "I think your son is too comfortable now!"

Molly grinned. "Really? Of course – if you don't mind..."

"Nonsense!" Sirius said. He rose to help Molly bring her things over to their table. As he began wheeling the pram over, he was surprised to find another tiny face amidst a bundle of blankets. "Oh, who's this then?"

"This is our latest addition," Molly replied, going pink. "I... I know we have a lot already but..."

"Well, they're like chips, aren't they?" Sirius laughed, sitting back down. "You really can't have just one! There's nothing wrong with it, Molly. If other people don't like it, they're probably only jealous that they don't have such a nice family."

For a moment, Molly looked as though she might cry from gratefulness. Then she grinned and said, "This is our last, in any case. I've finally got my little girl!" Molly lifted her from the pram and cuddled her.

"Really?" Lily gasped. "Oh, how wonderful! What's her name?"

"Ginevra – only I call her Ginny," she beamed. "And Lily, the one you've got is Ron."

James scooted over to peer into the blankets. "Molly, she's lovely! What a sweetheart. She's already got her trademark hair! Hello, little girl. Hello, Ginny!" He put his finger into the bundle, tickling Ginny's chin. She gurgled and cooed. "How old is she?"

"Only just two months. Of course, that's a far cry from our Bill. He's..." A tear ran down Molly's cheek, and she wiped it away with a corner Ginny's blanket. "Forgive me. I'm just being an emotional mummy. He's just started at Hogwarts! Sorted into Gryffindor and everything, just like us."

"_No_! Really? I didn't realize you had one that old already! Oh Molly, you must be so proud!"

They talked for a long while. Harry and Ron eventually fell asleep against each other. When the rain finally stopped, Sirius decided he should make his way home. He gave Harry a big kiss, hugged Lily and James, then disapparated away. Not long after that, Ginny began to fuss. Molly decided that they had better make their way home as well. James finished his ice cream, Lily helped him gather up their things, then they went home too.

Once inside, Lily took Harry to his crib and gently laid him down. He grunted in his sleep, but otherwise didn't even move. She sat on a rocker next to it, her head leaning against the bars, staring lovingly into it.

"Hey," James whispered. He went to sit on the chair's arm and held her. He watched his sleeping son for a moment as well. "I wish I could sleep like that. He's so peaceful." He kissed the top of Lily's head. "They're so lovely, aren't they, babies? Harry was so sweet with little Ron this afternoon."

"Wasn't he?" Lily grinned. "I was just glad they even got along, but you'd have thought they were brothers."

"Yeah... what do you say we call it an early night? Maybe we can give him a brother." He winked.

"Really? You'd like that?"

"Why not? I think Sirius was right about them being like chips. Besides, we'll have fun trying if nothing else." He gently pinched the spot where Lily's jeans had been burned through.

Lily laughed, smacked James with a pillow and ran to the master bedroom. He chased her. Lily had honestly felt ,for a few hours, that she might not ever smile again. She might have lost a family member, but now she realized she could grow her own new family. They could have two maybe even three more. As James had said, why not? Everything was going so right for them. Apart from everything else, Lily knew that in a few weeks, they would make Peter their secret keeper, and go into much deeper hiding with Sirius. Then they'd have nothing to worry about for a long, long time. Not even Voldemort.

**(( Sorry for ending with feels! I was done with this awhile ago, but it was my birthday and I completely forgot to post it. Sorry again! Thank you for the reviews I've had, I love receiving them. I've had a request for Hermione, so she's next! I promise it won't take as long.))**


	3. Baby Hermione

**Baby Hermione**

Hermione Granger was the best front desk girl that Brighton Shiny Smiles ever had. She was beautiful and charming. She was almost always happy, with a friendly disposition. She was eager to help. She never made any mistakes. Unfortunately, they weren't allowed to put her on the pay roll as she was just only 3 years old (though if anyone were to ask her, she was 3 and 3/4).

Hermione had to stay in the office because both of her parents were dentists. Her father did orthodontal work, as well as his regular duties. Her mother took on oral surgeries two days a week, but was otherwise a technician so that she could keep an eye on her daughter. All the other days, she only worked in the morning. Hermione was a very quiet, polite girl. She typically sat with her snacks, crayons and books in the children's play room that the office offered. There were plenty of toys and videos for her to see. She was totally content being by herself.

Still, no one in the office minded when she went exploring. She never caused any trouble. Sometimes she fancied being behind the desk and playing with the plastic sets of teeth, and they were more then happy to have her there. She sat down with their two foot toothbrush and played that she was the tooth fairy. It never got old for her.

The women at reception were all young, many right out of university, who were eager to start their own families. They all thought Hermione was just adorable. She had large, doe eyes and a huge bucktoothed grin that they just couldn't resist. They let her sit up on the desk and they would play with her or let her "help" the patients coming in.

"Hello! I 'Mione," she would greet, typically waving a toothbrush at them. A girl at the desk would hand Hermione a clipboard and she would hold it out to whomever was coming in. "Paper, please?" She then waved a pen at them so that they could sign in.

On this particular day, she had been woken up far too early, in her opinion. She fell asleep in her car seat and was woken again when they arrived at the office. Her mother carried her into the playroom and put Hermione's little backpack up. Hermione had already nestled down into an overstuffed beanbag and was fast asleep. Mrs. Granger smiled and kissed her, and left to get to work.

When Hermione woke up, she was briefly concerned, knowing immediately by the different colored walls that she wasn't in her bedroom. As she sat up, she began to realize where she was. This was her second home, really. The smell of the flouride, latex gloves, chemicals and anti-septic were comforting and instantly recognizable. Hermione yawned sleepily. She blinked around the room, checking to see if any other children had come in while she'd been snoozing. But there wasn't. Once again, she was all on her own.

She stretched and got up. Hermione pulled out the waistband of her skirt, checking to see if her panties were wet. "Yay, I dry!" She cheered for herself. She was wearing her favorite underwear, the pair with a cartoon cat print, and she felt very accomplished on not soiling them.

She waddled over to the television and VCR. Her parents had put stickers on the buttons to push so that she could watch movies. Her absolute favorite was Peter Rabbit, so she chose that one first. She pushed the blue sticker for the TV to turn on, pushed the film into the slot and pressed the green button to play it.

When it had finished, she decided she had better go and check on her parents. They ought to know she was up and they might be in need of her help. She went to her backpack and pulled out her favorite stuffed cat. There was no sense in going on an adventure without him. Holding him close, she made her way out to where her parents were working. She poked her head into all the rooms as she went down the hall. Most of them were empty, but she finally found her mother in the fourth room.

There was no one in the chair, but they were expecting someone as Mrs. Granger was setting tools out and checking the equipment. She and a dentist she recognized as Josh White were chatting as he reviewed a few x-rays.

"Mummy?"

"Well, good morning sweetheart! How's Mione?"

Hermione ran to her mother and was scooped into a big hug. "I help?"

"No, I don't think mummy needs help right now, love." Then seeing the disappointed look on Hermione's face, she continued, "Here, why don't you push this button and see if the chair works?"

Hermione prodded the button and smiled brightly as the chair moved.

"Hello Miss Hermione," Josh grinned. "Have you been having fun today?"

"No, I'm be sleeping!"

"Oh, I see. We'd better have some fun then, hadn't we? Watch this!" He took a latex glove from a box on the desk and blew it up like a balloon. He poked the thumb in and said, "There now, can you squeeze the fingers?" When she did, he gave an animated, "Mooooo!"

Hermione laughed. "Keith Teeth, please?"

That was her favorite part of getting to see Josh. He was considerably young with small children of his own. He was very talented when it came to children and he was a natural entertainer for them. Keith Teeth was a puppet he had developed to help the kids who were very frightened of the dentist. It was a set of teeth on a long pole which contained strings inside of it. At the end of the pole was a little trigger and every time he pulled it the teeth would open and shut. He had glued on a large pair of googly eyes to the top of the teeth. Keith also wore a tiny hat and a miniature bow tie. Hermione knew he wasn't real, but Josh was so clever with it that she sometimes forgot Keith wasn't alive. Apparently, Josh had just been waiting to be asked. He picked Keith up off of the dental chair.

"Hello Hermione," said Keith. "How are you today?"

Hermione laughed. "Good!"

"That's brilliant! I'm good too! Can I see your teeth? Say ahhhh!" When Hermione opened her mouth, Keith went upside down to look inside. "Good morning, Bertha! You're looking very pretty today! And you, Maggie, woohoo!"

Hermione giggled even harder. Keith was always trying to get dates with her teeth. She found it enormously funny.

"I see Mummy did your hair this morning. Want to see how I brush?" Josh picked up and oversize toothbrush and wiggled Keith vigorously, making the googly eyes wiggle like mad. "Bbbbbb! Ah, that's nice!"

He did it again and this time Hermione was laughing so hard she had tears coming down her cheeks. Just then, another little boy came into the room with his mother.

"Well, hello there! You must be Justin Finch-Fletchly! I'm Keith. Keith Teeth." Josh made Keith bow.

The little boy was about Hermione's age. He stood frozen, half nervous, half intrigued by Keith. He was also quite shocked, as this was the last thing he expected to see at a dentist.

"He's our next patient, love," Hermione's mum told her. "You'd better get back to the playroom, alright?"

"Ok mummy," Hermione sighed, disappointed.

"Good-bye Hermione! Remember to brush Miss Abigail for me. We're going to the cinema tomorrow night!"

Hermione giggled, waved and moved past her future school mate to go back to the children's waiting room. Once there, she dumped out the contents of her backpack. She grabbed up her two snack bags of grapes and cheese, then sat down to watch another movie. It was a film of collected episodes of Postman Pat, who was another one of her favorites. She ate her grapes one by one and nibbled the cheese until it was gone. After the movie was done, she flopped over. Everything was boring now. She ran her hands up and down the carpet, enjoying the ripple feel under her fingers, and thinking. Her eyes drifted over to the spilled contents of her backpack. Her books!

Hermione's parents had read some of them to her so often that she had memorized them. The first one she grabbed was titled Mr. Happy. There were such bright colors and silly faces. It always made her excited to open it.

"Mister Happy lives in Happyland," she recited, opening to the first page. She knew the entire thing by heart. "He is fat and round and happy. Hello, he says, I am Mister Happy!"

She read all about Mr. Happy making Mr. Sad laugh and she laughed herself when the book was over. She gave it a grateful pat and put it carefully back in her bag. As she reached her hand in, she felt something different. To her great delight, it was a new book!

Hermione wanted to get her mum right away to read it to her. She looked at the clock. She couldn't tell time, but her mother had showed her what the clock hands had to look like before her break. It had to be 11 0'clock. And it didn't look like that tiny piece of pie yet. Hermione sighed. Her mum was probably too busy.

She opened the book anyway. The very first word was I. She recognized it because it was a line. She saw that straight away, because her mum had shown her that a lot of her books started like that. The next word was harder. She knew she'd seen it before though. She went back to her backpack and gathered up all of her other books. She found the one with that word on the cover. Wrote! It was the longest word with that weird 'W' letter at the front.

"I wrote..." She repeated.

The next word was quite short. Only two letters. She found another book with that matching word. She'd memorized what that page said, and figured out that it must be...

"To!" She said. "I, umm, _wrote_ to...the" (She had seen that word loads of places) "the..."

The next word was so familiar. She saw that often too. She could remember her mum pointing it out from the car window every day. It had a funny squiggly letter at the front, then two circles. Suddenly, she knew where she saw it.

"Zoo! Zoo! I ...wrote... to the zoo," she exclaimed, grinning. She kept matching up words until she had the whole first page together. "I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. The zoo sent me a..."

There was a great, big, gigantic word on the next page. It was under a huge yellow box. Hermione looked at it and felt like crying. She was doing so well, but she'd never seen any word like this! How was she supposed to continue now? She had wanted so badly to impress her mummy by reading the whole book. Now she couldn't. Just as she was about to give up, she saw a tab on top on the yellow box. It was just like the ones in her picture books. Maybe if she could open it...

When she pulled on the tab, the box opened. There was a large, grey elephant inside. Elephant? She wondered. She had seen them at the zoo. They were certainly very big. It made sense that they had a big word for a name.

"They sent me an elephant?" She said, trying it out. It made sense! She turned the page. Piecing more words together, she read "But he was toooooo big. I sent him _back_!"

Lucky enough for her, the rest of the pages repeated. "So they sent me a..." She could figure out the words now by opening the flaps and seeing the animal.

Finally, she got to the last pages. "The zoo thought very hard. They sent me a dog! And he was..."

"_Hermione_!" Mrs Granger gasped. Hermione hadn't heard her mum come into the room a minute earlier. Mrs. Granger just couldn't believe her eyes. "Hermione! Are you reading? Is my big girl reading all by herself?!"

"Mummy!" Hermione squealed, excitedly. "Mummy watch!" She flipped back to the first page. "I...er... I wrote to the...the zoo. They...mm... they sent... sent me a pet."

"Oh, Hermione!" Her mother picked her up in a massive hug and spun her around. "My wonderful, smart girl! Reading already! And all on your own. You're so clever!" She gave her daughter a big kiss.

Hermione was delighted. Her mum paraded her around the office, showing off Hermione's new skill. Everyone was highly impressed and gave her lots of congratulations. When it was time for the to go home, Mrs. Granger stopped at the ice cream store. Hermione was treated a great, big scoop of vanilla with loads of colorful sprinkles. She was very pleased with herself. If all that hard work and reading meant she got brilliant treats, it was well worth doing more of!

**((This took me much longer then I expected! Sorry about that! I really hope you enjoyed it though. Please review! And don't forget, if there's a character you'd like to see, please request them :) ))**


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